Man of Steel

Certificate: 12A

Running Time: 143

Director: Zack Snyder

Starring: Henry
Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi,
Comic Book

Country: USA

When the first naturally born son of Krypton in one hundred thousand
years is sent to Earth as his planet explodes he begins the longest journey of
his life, but it’s not the interstellar trek to his new home but rather the
self discovery of what he can be and what kind of man he wants to be.

There’s something about Zack Snyder.
When it was announced that the 300
director was taking over the helm for Warner’s latest attempt to reboot and
make relevant Superman it looked as though Snyder could be the biggest threat
to the Kryptonian’s existence since President Luther. Yes he is an incredibly visual director but
with Dawn of the Dead being largely
unnecessary, Watchmen being
unbelievably bloated and Sucker Punchsupremely
pointless the stakes have never been so high.
What his previous offerings (we’re ignoring Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole as who can be mean to owls?) lacked was a
screenplay with either, pace, direction or on some occasions narrative
arcs. Enter David S. Goyer and The Dark Knight trilogy [reviews 1, 2 & 3] director
Christopher Nolan to add their touch of realism and pathos to the man of steel
in a way that would hopefully sidestep the stumbling step of Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns and the ever present
shadow of the late Christopher Reeves.

For the most part, it works. As
origins stories go you’ve traditionally got two types. The protracted, inevitable drawing out of
skill, power and colourful clothing only for our hero to realise who he can be
fifteen minutes and one set piece before credits roll ala Sam Raimi's Spiderman or the tale of two halves in which we’re treated to an
hour of discovery and another hour of our moral crusader righting wrongs across
his city as seen in Batman Begins and
most recently The Amazing Spiderman. There’s a third type that deals in historical
shorthand and an understanding that the audience knows enough to fill in some
of the blanks. Goyer’s screenplay, and
Snyder’s direction plays with this type as after an initial, and thrilling
piece of exposition on Krypton with Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and General Zod
(Michael Shannon) we’re skipped forward thirty years to a fully grown Clark
Kent (Cavill) as he wanders the United States looking for his place in the
world, conflicted between his instinct to “do right” and his (Earth) father’s
mantra to stay below the radar for the greater good of everyone else. He’ll not be accepted, and Jonathan is
largely right. Paralleling his modern
day journey are key moments of young Clark’s
childhood which showcase just how hysterical (and ungrateful) us Earthlings can
be. Showcasing the “origins” allows for
the audience to interact with the movie. If we’re in the screen watching then chances
are we know enough to play our role in his story and the nomadic touch pushes Kent away from this golden boy of small town America
idea that was always difficult to swallow.
People talk, people living in small towns talk and know everything about
you, so if you can bench-press a school bus at the age of thirteen chances are
you’re going to stick out as a freak thanks to the nosey crones of Smallville. In all likelihood they’ll point, and whisper
(which you’ll hear thanks to your super-hearing) and make you feel even more of an outcast. The only solution – short lived stays with
superficial relationships that keep humanity at arms length. It gives a degree of realism to the narrative
that Goyer and Nolan are great at.
Certainly, there are many moments throughout the ‘lonely wanderer’
section of the film that makes you feel as though you could be watching the
director’s cut of Batman Begins yet
it could also be the origins of our pal The Incredible Hulk. The key is their status as lost children of greatness.

Snyder’s movie looks beautiful. That’s a given, regardless of quality
Snyder’s movies always look beautiful but there’s a concerted effort to target
the flairs in style for the greater good of the piece and it only strengthens Man of Steel. Cal-El and
Zod’s interaction in the Kent
backyard before Cal
sinks into a quicksand of human skulls against a burning sun is lifted straight
out of the graphic novels and painted across the screen with a love of
enthusiasm for the source material that simply can not be faked. Similarly the scenes on Krypton have a
richness and fantasticness to them that demonstrates not just Snyder’s maturing
as a director but also the first sign that a balance between the fantastic and
the familiar, the remarkable and the realistic that surely bodes well for any
possibility of a Justice League of
America film – surely Warner and DC’s top priority having witnessed the
monetary heroics of Marvel’s Avengersmovie. In fact everything about the visual of
Snyder’s Man of Steel points to a
calibre of movie largely unavailable to comic book heroes, certainly
unavailable to the DC universe of late (with the exception of Batman). The handheld work gives the movie a real
grounding, especially considering the subject matter. The colour palette is beautifully rich, and
orchestrated set pieces, of which there are many, are handled with a composure
and skill that’s breathtaking.

Much has been made of the casting in Man
of Steel. An inevitability when it
comes to superhero movies. Fans hold the
characters as close to their hearts as some of their family members and though
there was some outrage at the gender reassignment that Jimmy Olsen underwent
it’s difficult to fault anything or anyone within the movie. The truth of the matter, and many fans won’t
like this, but Olsen is a peripheral character who is used to further the
narrative. There’s no shame in that,
many beloved comic book characters are.
Henry Cavill is outstanding as Cal-El/Clark Kent/Superman. He brings to the role a rawness, a
physicality, a strength and power that’s never really been seen in the man of
steel before. Reeves had a softness, a
grace to him that Routh and all others have been adhering to, most likely out
of respect, and it has trapped the character in an age we have moved on
from. Cavill’s hero gets angry, he
fights…he fights dirty, he’s emotional and when he takes off into the sky not
going do you feel it but your front windows will cave in as he breaks (with
ease) the sound barrier. He fills the
suit, in every possible way. The man
has worked out, he’s the size of a moderately priced suburban home and demonstrates
his internal struggle on screen without being incredibly showy. Adams (as Lois Lane) is a
great piece of casting. Granted she’s
not got an exceptional amount to do and her characterisation relies more on the
audience than on the script but there’s room to flesh her out in future
instalments and her relationship with Cal is one that’s a lot more believable
of an award winning investigative reporter.
It’s one based on an equality rather than deception and works a lot
better than what we’ve come to know as the tried and tested. Crowe is solid, Diane Lane heartfelt and Kevin Costner
hands in a masterclass on doing much with little as he schools and moulds his
son into the saviour of the human race.
Their scenes together (starring younger Clarks,
brilliantly cast) are sincere and beautiful, extremely touching and do so much
for the legend of Superman. Laurence
Fishburne (Perry White) isn’t given much to do and doesn’t really leave second
gear but he, like Olsen, is a character for exposition. Then we have Michael Shannon. Shannon is
perfect in Boardwalk Empire and in Man of Steel he’s downright
Shakespearian in his approach. What I
love about Zod is how much he gives you to read into. Superman’s creation, by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, was almost a way to exorcise the horrors of the Second World
War. Seventy years later we’re greeted
with a movie that invites comparison to the Nazi invasion of Europe as Earth
stands on the brink of a global holocaust and their character, with some minor
tweaks, is still imbued with all of the hopes, fears and catharsis that went
with creating him. Zod’s brutality holds
a mirror up and reflects the self sacrificing beauty of Superman. Shannon is a
soldier, a warrior and a banished terrorist.
He is as tactical as he is brutal and he draws out the physicality of our
hero, forcing him to raise his game to a level that threatens to close that
invisible line between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. The graceful, gentile days of Reeves are long
gone – out of necessity as much as anything and it’s this change that gives
Superman the greatest chance of survival.

Man of Steel won’t change your opinion on anything. If you’re not a superhero fan you’re unlikely
to get anything from this film but what it is, is hope. The symbol stands for hope, hope for
humanity, hope for the future, hope that DC can put behind them the
embarrassment of The Green Lantern, Superman Returns, that they can sidestep
the problems that will arise from a Flash movie, from an Aquaman movie and from
the transition of power from Nolan to whoever takes over in Gotham and bring to
the big screen a Justice League to
rival The Avengers. Man of
Steel is an action packed, exhilarating, masterful display of how
cinematically the world changes but when you trim away all the explosions,
gunfire and last minute rescues we’re left with a story of acceptance and
beauty in an all too often ugly world.
Superman is back, and he’s stronger than ever.